Episode 9: The Confestabaloo
Its December 10th 2008 and I fear this transmission might be compromised so im going to make this quick Official description Our co-hosts sedated themselves a bit this week in deference to special guest Chuck Jordan, Telltale designer and veteran of Grim Fandango and Curse of Monkey Island. Amidst discussions of Disneyland and ARG-based PR, we start to plan for Games of the Year and indulge in some pomposity about Game Narrative. Games Discussed Resident Evil 5, Treasure Troves, Army of Two, Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Grand Theft Auto IV, Mr. Payback Other Games Mentioned Bioshock Synopsis The thumbs are joined by Chuck Jordan a designer and writer at Telltale and Jake went to disneyland which is somehow relevant to a video games podcast and allows chris talked about Mr. Payback. After being arrested and welcoming new Neogaf readers the thumbs reveal their new website goty.cx. Nick played the Resident Evil 5 demo and said it was pretty good. Chuck wonders if its pretty much Resident Evil 4 with racist quick time events and Chris talks about how he was worried how the co-op would change the game. Nick continues to say its fine as they talk about the overall tones of the Resident Evil games and the inventory system of 5. Also the guy says 5 to everyone's relief. Chris mentions that he did an article on aspyr’s upcoming game treasure troves that creates game objects by scanning nearby wifi signals. Everyone waste no time in coming up ways to ruin peoples lives with this game until they get sidetracked by Phantasmagoria and 90’s box art. Getting back on topic Chuck briefly talks about some other geocaching games he has heard about before being interrupted by a break. After a break where Chris yells about things he hates Nick receives some confusing game marketing from kijuju and a new redirect to idlethumbs.net. From there the thumbs move to the depressing news that EA’s sales have been less than steller which could spell bad news for there new ip strategy. Nick talks about a possible sequel to Mirror’s Edge that will marry a strong ip with a strong business plan while Chris just hopes that people will remember the good parts of that game. Chuck talks about how despite having great mechanics and polish dead space was hardly original but Chris thinks its still better than nothing while Nick talks about the economy. Reader mail contains discussion on story in games, time sinks, and a really excited wing commander fan. After reader mail kaboomzzz’s littlebigplanets level is talked about and some of the entries to the ultra boost contest are listed. Finally they quickly mention the beta for Plain Sight and excitedly sign off. Notes *The episode is one of the first which doesn't start & have the usual theme song of the podcast but right away with an introduction by Jake Rodkin. Sandy McArthur: "UltraBoostFighterTwoTurboHDRemixSpecialChampionHyperAlphaEXVersusZeroPlus Berry" "UltraBoost BoostUltra", "UltraBoost BuzzBoost" "UltraBoost Rectal Rampage" "UltraBoost Twitch" "UltraBoost Goomba Sweat" "UltraBoost PipeDream Cream" "UltraBoost 2" Johnny Lau: "Turbo Retro Nostalgia Moonpiecrunch" "NextGen Brown & Blumen Butterscotch" "Halo Haters Hoppin Mad Habanero" " "Crappy Console Port Carrot Surprise" "LAN Party Aftermath: Flat Beer & Cold Pizza Swirl" Nick Grayscale Sopa: "OMGWTFBBQ Barbecue" "First Person Fruitpunch" "Watermelon Headshot" "LARPer Liqueur" "ROFL Raspberry" "SneakAttack Sausage" "HPB Hamburger" "Combo Breaker Crunch Cereal" Bryan Birkelman: "Barbie Game Magic Chocolate" "Popcap Turkish Delight" "Pathologic BloodClot" Matt Foley: "Pwnage Peppermints" "FixCamera Fruitrolls" Rodi: "8bit Retrochic Rhubarbe" Steve Ferrell: "Champion Japanese Ping Pong Player Focus" & his description: "This would be a green tea energy flavour. The side of the can would read something like: "If you need focus & reaction time equivalent to a Japanese Ping Pong Player, then you need Champion Japanese Ping Pong Player Focus.The name is excessive, So is the energy." Ingredients: Green Tea, Ginseng, Guarana, Taurine.Notes: Can be made in a diet version using Splenda" Adam W: "Achievement Whore Whisky" "Three Redlights Punch" Crummy: "M.U.D Mud" "Left 4 Bread" "Hot Scoops" Melchor: "BeatEmUpBoys&Berry" "Raspberry Random Encounters" "Mini Boss Mayhem" "Uncanny Valley Cream Soda" Merki: "Shaq's Ass Flavor" *PlainSight is a game that was made by Beatnik Games along with two former IdleThumbs writer: Alex Ashby & "Bishop" Lawrence Bishop. Memorable quotes * "Gabriel Knight The Rubber Sheet Within" -- Chuck Jordan * "Theres no spy stuff going on" -- Nick * "It's two in the morning and I've watched other people peeing all day" -- Chuck Jordan External Links *Monster in Law poster *Shaq's ass *Chris article on Treasure Troves YouTube Timestamps *01:40 — Disneyland '''- Interactivity *03:32 — '''Mr. Payback - Beating A) a chair or B) a bat with a nail through it *05:01 — Interactive Movies - How the Sega CD conquered the video game industry *06:00 — Disneyland - Level design and theme park design *07:56 — The Podcast is Arrested - Send bail to questions@idlethumbs.net *08:14 — Welcome to new NeoGAF Readers - Or, if you are not from there, defeat them *08:57 — GotY - Vote at goty.cx *11:07 — Resident Evil 5 - Racist quick time events *12:24 — Resident Evil 5 - Pace, co-op, and design *14:19 — Resident Evil 5 - Inventory system *16:14 — Resident Evil 5 '''- The guy says "five" *17:09 — '''Treasure Troves - A weird, pseudo-procedural ARG version of Animal Crossing *21:29 — Faces Screaming Under Fabric - A 90s box art stable *23:02 — The Confestabaloo - Plundr and other LARPy games *25:17 — Army of Two - The quick time reach-around *28:00 — Editing-constructed dialog in trailers - Chris hates it *29:07 — Resident Evil 5 - It came from Kijuju *30:49 — 5 + Bionic Commando = Metal Gear - METAL GEAR!?!?! *32:30 — Lame ARGs - Marketing guys want you to play theirs *34:31 — Redirects - 8bitcock.com is this week's new entry *36:21 — EA - Holiday sales did not meet expectations *38:24 — Mirror's Edge - Possible sequel *39:00 — Mirror's Edge - Taking away the right lessons *40:00 — Dead Space - "Original" IP *41:49 — Greenlighting Projects - The pressures of being a large studio *44:58 — Video Game Awards - Perceived prestige *46:45 — Buying PC Games at GameStop - A sad experience *49:11 — Reader Mail - Story in Games - Featuring GTA IV, BioShock, and Fallout 3 *1:02:32 — Reading vs. Playing Games - How you progress through each medium *1:03:47 — Engagement vs. Satisfaction - MMOs are a time sink *1:05:37 — Social Interaction in MMOs - Talking while killing boars *1:06:38 — Gamer Paranoia - You want to take all the fun games away! *1:07:34 — Music Games - Driving instrument sales *1:08:09 — Games and Film - There should be more classy games *1:09:04 — Wing Commander (movie) - The viewer who was a little too into it *1:10:06 — Post-Release 3D Drivers - Immersed in an immersive world of visceral immersiveness! *1:12:50 — Mirror's Edge - Featuring the brand new character Tarp Physics, P.I. *1:15:57 — Reader Mail - Hancock (game) - Most of some guy's friends would buy it *1:16:57 — LittleBigPlanet Levels - Only Kaboomzzz bothered *1:18:41 — Ultra Boost - Uncanny Valley Cream Soda *1:24:33 — Plain Sight - You could have joined the beta when this podcast came out *1:25:38 — Outro - The recursive choose-your-own-adventure opening